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Peach Gelato report (long-winded, as usual)

I made some peach gelato the other day w/ a bunch of small yellow peaches from my in-laws' tree. It started out as a sorbet, but after tasting the sorbet base, it was so concentrated and cloying in flavor that I felt it needed some dairy to mellow it. I wasn't planning on reporting, but jackie mentioned an interest, so thought another post wouldn't hurt. I had some neat and elegant photos of my creation, but chose to include the one below where the gelato is starting to melt evidenced by the sticky splatter on the left. This was followed by me putting down the camera and devouring it...

I thought long and hard about what to call this. It is eggless and uncooked, so why not Philly-style ice cream or sherbet you ask? I chose gelato namely b/c I only used whole milk and b/c of its denser texture. These days I'm chilling my base overnight so that it spends as little time in my machine as possible and thus contains less air or "overrun". I've been finding that the more dense, the better the flavor and the less problems I have w/ quick melting. I did like this version better than the Philly-style peach ice cream I reported on a while back. The peach flavor was very direct and pure and the texture was more dense and less icy. I'm finding that for fruit, I prefer less fat and eggs so that the honest fruit flavor can shine through.

I *hate* to give out exact recipes b/c the best cooking can only happen w/ flexibility to compensate for variance in taste and ingredients, but everyone likes to see a recipe so think of this only as a guideline and pay more attention to the method. I had a random amount of peaches so the proportions below are not standard, so adjust accordingly if you want a whole qt.

Method: When you peel and slice the peaches, try to save as much dripping juice as you can. Macerate peach chunks and juice in 5 TB granulated sugar for 30 min. (I don't know if macerating makes a huge difference but this is what I did.) Pour peaches into blender and puree til smooth. Strain through sieve. Taste and add pinch salt if it needs it. Now using superfine sugar for better dissolving, add enough sugar so that the puree is a tad too sweet. You can use granulated, but you may want to rebuzz in blender. Add whole milk in 1/4 c. increments til you reach desired peach flavor. Add vanilla and almond extract, if using. Taste again and adjust all flavorings. Remember it needs to taste a little too sweet as freezing will lessen the sweetness.

Chill base overnight in airtight and nonreactive container in fridge. Churn in machine til base transforms from liquid to consistently creamy mass. Mine only took about 10-15 min. before coming together. If you want more air, let it go longer. Eat immediately or store in freezer. If frozen, let it warm up for 10-15 min. before serving. I like it best the same day. If you plan to store for a few days, then store in separate containers for serving so that you don't have to thaw and refreeze anything (thanks to nooodles for this tip!). Thanks to all you ice cream fiends for making this a frozen treat summer I (and my ice cream maker) will never forget!

A super hot pan, preheated under the broiler, will help to brown the underside of the steak while the broiler chars the top and cooks the meat through. The broccoli stems will become crisp-tender while the florets get deliciously frizzled.